Electric vacuum cleaners are in widespread use in homes, offices and other places where quick and efficient floor cleaning is desired. Such vacuum cleaners are provided in various configurations, such as upright, canister, “stick,” and “powerhead” designs.
Upright vacuums are typically provided having a relatively large floor-engaging, wheeled nozzle base to which a pivoting rear housing/handle is attached. The base includes a suction nozzle directed towards the floor, and the rear housing includes a dirt storage receptacle (such as a cyclonic or non-cyclonic dirt separation chamber or a vacuum bag chamber), and a grip for manipulating the device. A vacuum fan and motor assembly (fan/motor) is located in either the base or the rear housing to provide a suction airflow that either draws air through the nozzle and dirt receptacle, or draws air into the nozzle and pushes it through the dirt receptacle. The base may also include an agitator driven by either the fan/motor, a separate motor, or an air turbine. Upright vacuums are also known to include a flexible hose and various cleaning tools for cleaning above the floor or in hard to reach areas.
Canister vacuums operate in the same manner as uprights with respect to generating a working air flow and separating dirt, but typically include a floor-cleaning nozzle base that is attached to a canister by way of a flexible vacuum hose. Like an upright, the nozzle base has a nozzle directed towards the floor, and may include an agitator driven by a motor in the base. The canister contains the fan/motor and dirt receptacle (again, of a bag, cyclonic or non-cyclonic bagless design).
Stick vacuums are, essentially, compact upright vacuums in which the size of the nozzle base has been minimized. These vacuums typically have a relatively small base, which may or may not have an agitator disposed in or near the air inlet. The fan/motor and dirt receptacle are typically located in a stacked arrangement in a narrow rear housing to provide the device with a slender, easily-stored profile. It can generally be said that stick vacuums are designed to locate as many of the working parts as possible in the rear housing, and in as compact a manner as practicable. Stick vacuums often use battery power, but some are corded.
Powerhead-type vacuums are the opposite of stick vacuums in that they are typically designed to locate most or all of the working parts in the nozzle base, and minimize the number of size of any parts that are located in the rear housing/handle. However, such vacuums often share the stick vacuum objective of being smaller or more compact than typical uprights and canisters. Examples of powerhead vacuums include those in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,574,831; 6,317,920; 6,012,200; 5,829,090; 5,500,979; 5,319,828; 4,519,113; 3,618,158; and 1,829,582, all of which are incorporated herein by reference. In such devices, the nozzle base typically houses the nozzle, dirt receptacle and fan/motor, and may also include an agitator and an agitator motor (if it is not driven by the fan/motor). It is also known to power such devices using conventional electrical cords or batteries, which may be located in the base or the rear housing/handle. The rear housing includes a hand grip and serves the primary (and often the only) function of being a handle with which to guide the nozzle base. However, in some cases the rear housing has been provided with accessory tool storage areas, or has been adapted to serve as an accessory vacuum hose or wand.
While the known powerhead-type vacuum cleaners have been somewhat successful, there still exists a need to provide an improved powerhead-type vacuum cleaner.